Kulbhushan Jhadav: Indian government hard retaliatory measures against Pakistan unveiled

Shares

NEW DELHI: Indian government has decided to go hard against Pakistan after the episode of the death sentence awarded to the arrested RAW agent in Pakistan.

Reliable sources have revealed that a number of retaliatory measures have been planned as a counter strategy to pressurise Pakistan.

India is planning to slow down the visa process for Pakistani applicants as a form of retaliation after Islamabad said it will execute convicted RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, reported the Indian Express on Friday.

Initially 'high visibility' targets, such as actors, artists, and singers, will be subjected to the tactic in an effort to gauge the impact of the move, eventually leading up to a possible blanket ban on all Pakistani visitors seeking an Indian visa, reported the newspaper, citing sources within the Secretariat Building in New Delhi.

Although there have been no explicit instructions given to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, a 'go-slow mode has been activated. “The present situation, after Jadhav’s sentencing, is going to get worse. The missions will have to work with depleted strength for some more months now, it seems,” it quoted anonymous sources as saying.

The report says that New Delhi is engaged in various tactics "to corner Pakistan on the issue". "We are exploring soft as well as hard options," the newspaper report quoted another anonymous source as saying.

A military court in Pakistan sentenced Kulbushan Sudhir Jadhav to death on charges of espionage and anti-state activities.

ISPR said in a statement he had confessed to being tasked by India's intelligence service with planning, coordinating and organising espionage and sabotage activities in Balochistan "aiming to destabilise and wage war against Pakistan".

The sentence was passed by a Field General Court Martial and confirmed by the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The military did not announce any date for the execution.

Kulbushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested on March 3, 2016, in Balochistan, which has seen a long-running conflict between Pakistani security forces and a militant separatist movement.

ISPR released a video shortly after Jadhav's arrest last year in which he confessed to having spent years sowing unrest in Pakistan.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told agitated lawmakers in parliament that India would take up the issue with Pakistan at the highest level to ensure that justice was done to Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Swaraj dismissed Jadhav's trial as a farce and said Pakistan had ignored 13 separate requests in the past year to be permitted to offer him consular services.